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The use of a general reflection to introduce a description.
Fundamental Device XI. — A GENERAL REFLECTION TO INTRODUCE DESCRIPTION. A gen¬eral reflection is a state¬ment of a general truth. The following example consists of two parts—the general statement at the beginning and the appli¬cation of it at the end to the particular person or object described. A. MODEL. It is a great revolution in social and domestic life, and no less so in the life of a secluded student, this almost universal exchange of the open fireplace for the cheerless and ungenial stove. On such a morning as now lowers around our old gray parsonage I miss the bright face of .my ancient friend, who was wont to dance upon the hearth and play the part of more familiar sunshine. It is sad to turn from the cloudy sky and sombre landscape ; from yonder hill, with its crown of rusty, black pines, the foliage of which is so dismal in the absence of the sun ; that bleak pasture¬land, and the broken surface of the potato field, with the brown clods partly concealed by the snowfall of last night ; the swollen and sluggish river with ice-incrusted borders, dragging its bluish-gray stream along the verge of our orchard like a snake half torpid with the cold, — it is sad to turn from an outward scene of so little comfort and find the same sullen influences brooding within the precincts of my study. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, Mosses from an Old Manse. SUGGESTIONS.- What description-motive is used in this model? Does the last sentence return to the general reflection at the be¬ginning? What is the fundamental quality ? Is the point of view given from which the picture is described ; 1. e., is the observer placed in a particular position ? Minor devices used. simile. B. EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS. The life of a good young girl who is in the parental nest as yet, can't have many of those thrilling incidents to which the heroine of romance commonly lays claim. Snares or shot may take off the old birds foraging with¬out — hawks may be abroad, from which they escape or by whom they suffer ; but the young ones in the nest have q. pretty comfortable, unromantic sort of existence in the down and straw, till it comes to their turn, too, to get on the wing. While Becky Sharp was on her own wing in the country, hopping on all sorts of twigs, and amid a multi¬plicity of traps, and pecking up her food quite harm¬less and successful, Amelia lay snug in her home in Russell Square ; if she went into the world, it was under the guidance of the elders ; nor did it seem that any evil could befall her or that opulent, cheery, comfortable home in which she was affectionately sheltered. Mamma had her morning duties, and her daily drive, and the delightful round of visits and shopping which forms the amusement, or the profession as you may call it, of the rich London lady. Papa conducted his mysterious operations in the City — a stirring place in those days, when war was raging all over Europe, and empires were being staked Meanwhile matters went on in Russell Square, Bloomsbury, just as if matters in Europe were not in the least disorganized. The retreat from Leipsic made no difference in the number of meals in the servants' hall ; the allies poured into France, and the dinner bell rang at five o'clock just as usual. —WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY, Vanity Fair. SUGGESTIONS.—What description-motive is used in this example? Find the general reflection and point out its application to what follows. What is the fundamental quality ? Does this example portray the mode of life of an individual or a community ?